famously unfamous | jaron artolius eckbert iii

Fourteen

Cleo and I suffered me into my dress, and then snuck me around for my lessons with the boys. It was in their room, since they couldn't be seen by the princess until the court. I was shocked I could even sit on Sage's bed with him and not fall off with my huge skirt. They couldn't leave for anything but the bathroom and our lunch was brought to us. Cleo was careful to make sure I had napkins tucked over my dress so that if I dropped anything, it wouldn't stain.

And then Mott came to escort me to the dining room, separate from the boys.

Conner's dinner that night was served in the great hall, not the dining room where we'd eaten all week. Several guests were already there, but the princess and her parents, who apparently had accompanied her to Farthenwood, had not yet entered.

Sage was assigned as a door servant, with no apparent function other than to stand beside the doors of the great hall and observe as other servants came and went. Tobias's and Roden's assignment was no better. They stood at the far end of the room, tasked with the job of closing the curtains if the setting sun got in anyone's eyes.

I was lucky. I got to sit by Conner and eat what my heart desired.

Mott announced Princess Amarinda's arrival, along with the entrance of her parents and some of their courtiers.

Amarinda was as beautiful as Conner had described her, with chestnut brown hair swept away from her face and falling in thick curls down her back, and piercing brown eyes that absorbed her surroundings. As she recognized Conner, her entire face lit up with a smile that was warm and inviting. Here, in Conner's home, the guest had made the owner feel welcome. Then she looked at me and her smile widened. She almost closed her eyes.

Conner stood, along with the others at his table and myself, and bowed to Princess Amarinda and to her parents. Master Graves had told us about them, and how Amarinda came to be the betrothed princess.

The alliance between Amarinda and the house of King Eckbert was made at her birth. She was three years younger than Darius, and the product of a lengthy search by Eckbert. He wanted a foreign girl whose connections were powerful enough to forge a marriage that would create a bond between her country and Carthya, but not a direct heir to the throne, who would have political ambitions of her own.

Amarinda was a niece to the king of Bymar. Before she was even old enough to crawl as an infant, her parents had promised her to whoever inherited Eckbert's throne, most likely Darius. And although she'd never been given a choice in marriage, the older Amarinda became, the more her admiration for Darius grew. Both were said to be eager for the time when she would be of age and they could marry.

Amarinda stopped when she passed Sage beside the door. "What are you staring at?"

I froze, eyes wide as I watched the exchange.

"Forgive him, Highness," Mott said, stepping forward.

"No forgiveness is requested. I merely wondered what a servant found so interesting."

Sage looked to Mott to see if he should answer. Then he said, "You've got dirt on your face."

She arched her eyebrows. "Is that a joke?"

"No, Your Highness. On your cheek."

Amarinda turned to her attendant, who flushed and wiped the dirt off. "Why didn't you tell me before I walked in here?" Amarinda asked her.

"You led the way, Highness. I didn't see it."

"But he did and he's only a servant." She turned back to Sage apologetically. "Before leaving my room, I had the window open and paused to look out. I must have gotten some dirt on my face then."